On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:53:01 -0000, "Pat Gardiner"
 wrote:

>Pat's Notes; This article is probably the big news of the week, perhaps the 
>month. It was  a response to this and an attempt to pre-empt it, that was 
>published yesterday by the National Pig Association and then quickly 
>removed.
>
>I'm not surprised and will explain in detail at the end. Read it first
>
>From The Times
>
>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article3228132.ece
>
>January 22, 2008
>
>Are the food labels telling porkies?
>
>Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor
>The supermarket meat aisle is a minefield for those seeking sausages and 
>bacon from pigs that were once as happy as, well, pigs in muck.
>
>More than 98 per cent of imported pork, bacon or ham is intensively 
>produced. Seventy per cent of British pigmeat comes from animals reared 
>intensively indoors. After that it gets complicated. Which to choose: 
>free-range, outdoor-reared, outdoor-bred or organic?
>
>Consumers pay a 20-25 per cent premium for meat from pigs they believe have 
>roamed in the fresh air from birth to slaughter, but there are no legal 
>standards covering the various descriptions for pork.
>
>Now the RSPCA has written to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural 
>Affairs, the Food Standards Agency, the British Pig Executive (BPEX), the 
>British Retail Consortium and leading supermarkets demanding change, 
>claiming that consumers are in danger of being misled.
>
>Julia Wrathall, head of farm animal policy at the RSPCA, said: "We think it 
>is time for a legal definition and as far as we are concerned meat labelled 
>free-range must be from a pig that has spent its whole life outdoors."
>
>Seventy per cent of the 9.15 million pigs reared in Britain live entirely 
>indoors. Five per cent are free-range - born and reared outdoors in fields, 
>with shelter from the rain and sun - and 2 per cent are organic free-range. 
>The rest are outdoor-bred or outdoor-reared. An outdoor-bred pig is born 
>outdoors but spends five-sixths of its life in an open shed, typically about 
>30m by 20m (100ft by 65ft), with perhaps 299 other piglets. The shed will 
>have low walls made from bales of straw so that the pigs can look out at the 
>sky but not frolic in a field.
>
>An outdoor-reared pig will usually have spent its first three months in the 
>open with its mother before being brought into open sheds for fattening.
>
>Mick Sloyan, spokesman for BPEX, said: "The pigs may well be under cover to 
>protect them from the elements but they have plenty of space to move around. 
>One thing we're clear about is that consumers should actually have the full 
>information about production and if the meat is free-range or not 
>free-range."
>
>Waitrose uses the RSPCA's Freedom Food inspectors to audit standards on pig 
>farms. Jane Clarke, central buyer for meat, said that the term 
>"out-door-reared" was ambiguous. She said: "What does it mean? Customers 
>would say that it is the same as free-range. So we need to be absolutely 
>clear."
>
>Richard Dodds, a spokesman for the British Retail Consortium, said: "We 
>think it is right there are no set standards for free-range or other 
>categories because retailers themselves make clear to customers the various 
>claims and definitions. Each supermarket is free to set its own standards 
>and these are used as a competitive point of difference between retailers, 
>which tends to ratchet up standards."
>
>Defra is resisting legal standards. A spokeswoman said: "We are not 
>convinced there is a need, given that the vast majority of pork is derived 
>from pigs that are reared indoors."
>
>THE LIVES OF PIGLETS
>The RSPCA wants free-range, and outdoor-reared and -bred to be defined 
>legally
>Free-range
>(5 per cent of pork produced in UK) Animals are born and live in fields with 
>their mothers. Organic pigs are reared in the same way
>Outdoor-reared
>(15 per cent) The piglets live outside for three months, before being 
>brought into open-walled sheds for their last three months
>Outdoor-bred
>(15 per cent) Piglets are moved in at four weeks for fattening
>Indoor-reared
>(70 per cent) Piglets are brought up on slatted concrete floors, sometimes 
>covered with straw. They live in groups of 80 to 100 in rooms 8m by 5m and 
>are given toys to stave off boredom
>Stall-and-tether
>Sows give birth in cramped stalls. The system was banned in the UK in 1997; 
>an EU ban is due in 2013
>Source: RSPCA, British Pig Executive
>
>
>Have your say
>
>The RSPCA have a conflict of interest in certain farming methods and even 
>their Freedom Foods have come under serious scrutiny. The Government are 
>handing over too much power and responsibility to this animal rights charity 
>and it will be detrimental to both farmers and animal keepers.
>Andrew Meads, Kettering,
>
>Pat's Detailed Notes:
>
>You can read this report at two levels. The article poses the question: "Are 
>the food labels telling porkies?" The answer is, of course, yes. They have 
>been for years. The good genuine and honest producers have been swamped. The 
>rest did what they were told or faced the consequences.
>
>Is the article accurate? Broadly, with some window dressing, yes. I would be 
>suspicious of the figures given at the foot. Figures given by either the 
>RSPCA or BPEX are usually unreliable.
>
>This is the RSPCA and BPEX coming out with their hands up. These pigs are 
>usually covered by the Freedom Foods scheme at an expense to the farmer or 
>producer. It was and is a crude protection racket to keep RSPCA inspectors 
>off the premises or there and agreeable. The animal welfare people have 
>caught them red-handed dozens of time certifying sites that were bad  beyond 
>belief.
>
>They are owning up. Free range piglets are being grown-on indoors in 
>frequently appalling conditions. The appalling conditions are usually due to 
>illness especially PMWS - Circovirus and treated with very large doses of 
>antibiotics to try to keep them alive.
>
>The trade of course pays a compulsory levy to run BPEX. They wanted a levy 
>holiday recently but Defra overruled them. So BPEX waste the levy money on 
>lunatic advertising at the same time as admitting that they have been lying 
>to the public.
>
>Both organisations are, of course, really run by Britain's corrupt State 
>Veterinary Service.
>
>So this is Defra surrendering, possibly under number 10 instruction.
>
>Why?
>
>MRSA from pigs. The storm is gathering in both America and the Continent. It 
>will sweep away Defra, of course, probably Brown too, unless he proves to be 
>uncharacteristically decisive.
>
>Britain's veterinary and veterinary service professions are finished. They 
>will go the way of Rommel's Afrika Corps. History. We face a 
>deveterinaryised country for decades. The RCVS has disgraced itself. We can 
>bring Poles in, they are cheaper and obviously better.
>
>In today's well informed world you cannot spread zoonotic disease around the 
>globe twice and get away with it. Nobody abroad has forgotten BSE and vCJD.
>
>Recently a piggy boy was frantic "What do we do?" he asked me. He was very 
>angry with me, because I had no solution for him.
>
>Events will decide, not you, not him, not me, not Defra.  And those events 
>will be driven by the US.
>
>Realpolitk.
>
>
>-- 
>Regards
>Pat Gardiner
>www.go-self-sufficient.com